


Doormat Babe

by Whenpigsfly84



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-02-03 09:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12745173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whenpigsfly84/pseuds/Whenpigsfly84
Summary: A mysterious child is left with Duo one morning. As he seeks for answers he'll have to face his past and prepare for a haunting future he'd never expected. Will he be able to reconnect with old friends or will he lose all those he loves?





	1. No Answers, Just Questions

Doormat Babe  
Chapter 1

Glancing over at his clock, Duo groaned in dismay; it read 2 am, not a time one should be ringing his doorbell. But at the rather persistent ringing, he decided it might be something important. Stumbling out of bed, he blearily made his way across his apartment to the front door. Carefully cracking the door open to the extent of the security chain, Duo glanced out into the hallway. Seeing as it was completely empty, he slid back the lock and fully opened it. To his surprise, there was nobody anywhere in sight.

"Okay, what's with playing Ding-Dong-Ditch at 2 am?" Duo muttered sleepily. It was as he started to step out into the hallway for a better look, that he literally stumbled across something on his doormat.

Looking down at his feet, Duo cocked his head to the side at the strange sight that met his gaze. There was a bassinet sitting at his feet, with a very tiny baby swaddled inside it. 

"What the...?" Duo blinked his brain not quite up to process what his eyes were seeing this early in the morning. Stepping over the baby, Duo quickly walked down the hall, hoping to catch whoever it was that had deposited the child on his doorstep before they got too far away. Unfortunately, it seemed the person had vanished completely, as the halls, elevators, and stairs were empty.

Not sure what to do about the situation, Duo called the only person close enough to help him. 

"Duo, it's almost 3 am in the morning. Why are you talking about babies now?" Hilde asked, struggling not to fall back asleep.

"I'm trying to tell you that someone dropped a baby off on my doorstep Hilde," Duo replied shortly.

"As in like, with a note saying "here's your kid, have a nice life" type of deal?" Hilde gaped.

"Yeah, complete with a note. Although considering I have never been with anyone except you there is no way this kid can be mine," Duo explained, running a hand frustratingly through his bangs.

"Well maybe it's a case of mistaken identity," Hilde suggested.

"I doubt it since the note clearly reads, 'Dear Duo, here's your son. I can no longer care for him, and hope that you can do a better job.' With of course no name as to who wrote it," Duo sighed.

"So the mommy's a mystery...does the kid have a name?" Hilde asked.

"Uh, says here it's Damon," Duo read.

"It's a boy? Geez like I can handle one of you, what am I gonna do with two of you running around?" Hilde joked, trying to lessen the tension on the other end of the line.

Duo just scowled, "Can you get over here Hilde, I don't know anything about babies and I'm pretty sure if I leave it out on the doorstep my neighbors are gonna get suspicious."

"Just because I'm a girl Duo doesn't mean I know any more about them than you do. You're the one who spends every Sunday down at the orphanage with the kids," Hilde remarked.

"That's different, they can all walk, talk and basically fend for themselves. This is a whole other territory I don't know anything about," Duo defended.

"Alright, fine, but I have to do some shopping first. I'm guessing Damon didn't come with any supplies, right?" Hilde assumed.

"Supplies? Like what?" Duo asked, reaching down into the bassinet to check for things he might have missed.

"Bottles, diapers, extra clothing, toys, etc?" Hilde explained.

"Nope, just the bassinet, the kid, the blanket he came wrapped in and the note," Duo replied.

"Okay then, I'll be over in a few hours. In the meantime, pick him up if he gets fussy and make sure he's not wet or dirty," Hilde instructed before hanging up the phone.

'Pick him up? Ya, sure thing...' Duo thought, dropping the phone onto the couch and staring down at the delicate face peeking up at him from inside the layers of blanket.


	2. Necessary Steps

Chapter 2:

Not having any clue as to how to go about picking up the child, nor even wanting to contemplate checking to see if it was wet or messy, Duo was relieved when Hilde finally entered the apartment, multiple bags hanging from her arms.

"What did you do, buy out the entire baby section?" Duo joked.

"Haha, very funny. You'd be amazed how many things a baby actually requires. And these are just the essentials; diapers, bottles, formula, clothing, a few toys..." she replied, carefully extracting the things one by one and placing them on the coffee table in front of Duo.

"When did you become such an expert at child care?" Duo asked, goggling at all the supplies.

"I would hardly call myself an expert, but there are certain things that all babies need. Besides the rest of it, I just asked an associate to help me with, like diaper and clothing sizes and which kind of formula to get," Hilde explained.

"You know you really didn't have to do all of this, I mean getting the diapers and food was one thing, but it's not like I'm keeping the kid," Duo said, earning a surprised look from Hilde.

"Duo, you can't mean you're going to just dump the kid, are you?" she asked in bewilderment.

"Of course not! But I'm not prime parent material here, the nuns at the orphanage would do a much better job than me; at least until I can figure out how to locate his parents or someone in his family," Duo retorted.

"You can't leave him at the orphanage! For God's sake Duo, he was left on your doorstep with a note for you to take care of him. The least you can do is watch him until then," Hilde cried in outrage.

"Hilde I don't know anything about babies, how am I going to take care of him? I can't strap him to my back while I work out in the scrap yard," Duo argued.

"I'll watch him while you do that then. He can stay with me inside while I do the paperwork," Hilde replied firmly.

Duo was about to protest again when a shrill cry was heard, emanating from the bassinet. Both adults quickly went silent as they stared down at the creature making such a racket.

"Geez, the kids got some pipes on him," Duo cringed, leaning further away from the squalling child.

"I don't think he likes us fighting, kids can usually tell when people are upset by the tones around them," Hilde sighed, reaching into the bassinet and lifting the child out.

Duo watched in amazement as she cradled the screaming infant to her chest, cooing gently and rocking him until his cries quieted.

"You definitely need to find his parents or someone to take him, it doesn't seem right to just drop him off at the orphanage. I know the nuns are really nice, but they have their hands full as it is," Hilde commented quietly, a look of pleading crossing her face.

Duo sighed, he really hadn't wanted to abandon the boy either, but the thought of trying to do what Hilde was doing right now scared him. He always spent his Sundays down at the orphanage, going to mass with the children and the nuns. It was a sort of penance to him for everything that had happened at Father Maxwell's church so many years ago. Duo had quickly bonded with the children there, seeing so many who reminded him of how it was growing up on the streets at such a young age. It was easy to fall in love with all the rowdy children at the orphanage, and they looked up to Duo as a sort of older brother figure. But he'd never had any experience with a child that couldn't walk, talk or even feed itself yet, that sort of dependency seemed way out of Duo's league.

"I don't know how I'm going to be able to track down his folks. There was no name on the letter, and I doubt the local authorities would be much help, they've got bigger problems to worry about with all the raids and fights going on," Duo groused, crossing his arms over his chest.

"They'd probably put him into social services in the meantime anyway..." Hilde frowned, the idea not settling well with her at all.

"I just don't see how we're going to be able to take care of him, we're both so busy with the scrap yard and you know the Sweepers or Preventers could call me anytime," Duo mentioned.

Hilde's face lit up suddenly, "That's it Duo! The Preventers have resources nobody out here do, they could find his family in no time."

"No way, I can't ask Lady Une to do that. And she'd never authorize me to do my own investigation, I'm only a Preventer when she really needs me for something," Duo said, shaking his head.

"Then what about Heero or Wufei? They can use their connections for you," Hilde suggested.

"You know I don't talk to them anymore, Hil," Duo replied, quietly.

Hilde's shoulders slumped at the dark look on Duo's face. She knew better than to bring any of the ex-pilots names up around Duo, but under the circumstances, she had hoped perhaps he would look past their problems. Duo had practically fled back to L2 after the end of the wars and although they had talked about starting up a scrap yard together, she figured now it was just an excuse to stay as far away from the others as possible. 

Lady Une had extended an invitation to all the ex-pilots to join the Preventers, knowing their talents would be used well and how hard it might be for them to find jobs with their reputations. Heero had however opted to stay as Relena's bodyguard for the first year and a half before joining. Duo had joined on as a consultant if they needed him but had stressed that his first priority was to his scrap yard. Trowa had also joined on as a stand-in if needed but had joined Quatre on L4 when he took his place as Winner Corps. head CEO. Quatre had refused all together as his company was actually helping to fund the Preventers and in the last year, he had moved back down to Earth to start up several of his pet projects. Wufei had also refused at first and had spent a year with Sally in a few remote regions of China helping the budding doctor rebuild some of the poorest communities. He had however joined on permanently when he realized he could be of better help to more people there and Sally had followed.

"I really think they'd be the most help Duo. The least you could do is give them a call and ask. Afterall, somebody has got to be missing this little guy terribly right now," Hilde requested, giving him her best puppy dog eyes.

Glancing from Hilde's pleading expression to the wide-eyed cherubic face nestled to Hilde's chest, Duo crumbled.

"Alright, I'll call Chang. I doubt Yuy would give two spits about an abandoned kid out here on L2, but I know Chang was working in China with Sally for a while. At least that guy's got some heart and soul left in him," Duo relented.


	3. A Call to the Dragon

Chapter 3:

The phone was answered with a short "Chang" and Duo winced at the tone. He hadn't spoken to Wufei since near the end of the wars when everyone had gone their separate ways. The only one he did keep in semi-regular contact with was Quatre, and in turn Trowa, since the lanky brunette hardly ever left his side. 

"Hi Wufei, it's Duo. Look, before you hang up on me, I really need you to hear me out for a sec, okay?" Duo asked, fearing he'd hear the slam of the receiver any second.

"Maxwell?" came the puzzled response a second later.

"Ya, listen something's come up out here and I need some help. I don't have the resources to deal with it properly and I know with the connections at Preventers you could probably handle it," Duo replied.

"Maxwell, you're on staff too. So why are you calling me?" Wufei asked, wondering what kind of trouble the young man could have gotten into.

"Because I'm not a full Preventers agent, and I don't really want to bother Lady Une with this," Duo explained.

"What did you do that you'd need my help?" Wufei asked cautiously, fearing the answer immediately.

"I actually need help finding someone, and I know the local authorities out here would be useless. You guys are all set up for that kind of stuff and I know you do it all the time," Duo said, crossing his fingers that Wufei would take the bait.

"Is someone missing? Is it that Schbeiker girl?" Wufei assumed.

"No, she's fine. It's actually the parents of a baby that sorta got left on my doormat last night," Duo replied.

"A baby? Someone left a child on your doormat? Why didn't they take it to the local orphanage or the hospital?" Wufei asked indignantly.

"Well, according to the note left with him, whoever it was wanted me to take care of him. But they didn't leave a name or anything, so I've got nothing to work with," Duo sighed heavily.

"They left a note? Hm, there could be fingerprints...We could probably run a DNA scan to see if we can find any relatives..." Wufei muttered, already running through the gamut of possibilities.

"So then you'll help? I really don't want to have to hand him over to child services...it's not exactly the best out here," Duo asked.

"Yes, I don't know exactly what I can do yet and if I get put on an assignment this may get delayed some..." Wufei warned.

"Hey no problem, I'm sure Hilde and I can watch him until this gets sorted out. You're a lifesaver 'Fei!" Duo chuckled, letting out a relieved sigh.

"So when can I expect your arrival? I'll make sure you have clearance before you dock and someone waiting to bring you in," Wufei asked, catching Duo off guard.

"My arrival? Uh, I wasn't planning on coming down there," Duo stammered.

"Duo, how I am supposed to get possible fingerprints from the note or get blood for DNA if the child is not here?" Wufei asked exasperatedly. He rubbed his fingers across his temples, feeling the throbbing of a headache coming on. This always happened whenever he had to deal with Maxwell, the man was aggravating at the best of times.

"Shit! I really can't afford to take off any time right now. Hilde can't run this place by herself, and I'm expecting a huge shipment next week," Duo groused.

"Duo, you know I can handle that, and anything else that comes in. The guys in the yard can help me with the rest of it," Hilde interrupted. "If Wufei needs you down there for this, then you need to go."

Duo groaned piously, wishing Hilde had kept her mouth shut. There was no way Wufei was going to let him get away now.

"I'll expect you here in 48 hours then Maxwell," Wufei confirmed, before hanging up; leaving Duo scowling at the receiver.

"It's better this way anyway Duo, as soon as he gets a look at this sweet little face he'll be doing everything he can to help. I'm sure anyone would in fact," Hilde assured him. "And even if nothing comes if it, I don't think I'd mind so much."

Duo's jaw dropped. "You'd want to keep him?"

Hilde smiled and nodded, cooing gently at the bundle still cradled in her arms.

"Aw Hil' you know we can't keep him. He deserves to be with a real family, who know what they're doing," he replied, sinking down into the couch next to her.

"We may not be what I want Duo, I know you don't love me like I love you, but as long as we're both here for him it really shouldn't matter," she whispered, her eyes refusing to meet his.

Duo's heart broke at seeing the flash of pain across her face. They'd both realized a while ago that as much as they both cared for each other, Duo's heart just wasn't in it. He wasn't sure exactly why he couldn't muster up the kind of feelings he knew Hilde felt for him, but he'd hated leading her on. 

She had been hurt by his admission but had known the truth before he even had. Hilde silently suspected he liked someone else, though she couldn't put her finger on exactly who. Duo never went out on dates with anyone else, preferring to spend his time with her or busy at the scrap yard. At first, it had been understandable, since the yard needed a lot of time and work, but it was almost self-sustaining at this point and they had a whole crew working for them now.

"I think this trip will be good for you Duo. Maybe you can patch things up with the guys, at least to the point where you'll accept Quatre's invitations for a visit. You know how he hates it when you refuse him," Hilde added.

Duo winced at the mentioned visits, it was true Quatre had been trying to get Duo to come down to earth ever since he'd relocated. He'd refused every time, mostly because the thought of being anywhere near Heero and Wufei caused his blood to boil. Although Wufei and he had never seen eye to eye and hadn't really had a chance to get to know one another during the wars, the guy always managed to get under his skin. 

Heero, on the other hand, he thought he had known, had thought they'd been friends but Heero had just about outright dismissed him after the wars. Duo had tried to get into contact with him again but had been thoroughly rejected time and time again. Once he'd joined the Preventers he'd had a chance to see both Heero and Wufei whenever he'd had an assignment and needed to report to Lady Une, both men ignored and shunned Duo as though they had never set eyes on him before. It had stung his pride in a way Duo had never felt before and so he'd decided not to push the issue anymore. 

He was relieved however that Wufei would be willing to assist him, given the less than good vibes between them. Hopefully, this whole mess could be taken care of quickly and he wouldn't have to deal too much with Heero in the process.


	4. Godfather

Chapter 4:

Deciding that taking a passenger shuttle would take too long and not wanting the hassle of dealing with other boarders, Duo decided that taking one of his own cargo shuttles would save a lot of time and money. He also didn't want to trust such a flight to some stranger when he had such precious cargo.

Hilde, he could already see, was becoming attached to the baby that she hadn't put down since she saw him. Constantly talking to him, rocking him and generally fussing over him, had Duo worried about how she'd deal with him taking the child when he left. The fact that she had alluded to wanting to keep him if his family was never found, told Duo a lot.

Grabbing his suitcase and the one they had packed for Damon, Duo strapped the car seat Hilde had bought into the passenger seat of his pickup truck. The directions had been no help whatsoever, and eventually, he'd thrown them aside in favor of wrestling with the straps. There seemed to be far too many, and the plastic buckles keep snagging on everything, tying him up and making it impossible to undo. Hilde stood behind him, watching as he growled obscenities and cursed the car seat makers and their future offspring, should they be so unlucky to reproduce. 

Finally unable to watch the torture the seat was putting Duo through any longer, Hilde snatched the directions up again and carefully looked them over. 

"The one in your hand should be attached to the seat belt, just slip the clip over it and slide it up so it's secure and the seat doesn't wobble."

Without looking back, Duo quickly complied, and then waited for his next instruction. With Hilde reading off the instructions Duo was eventually able to tame the beast until it looked safe enough to put a child in. 

"I swear I was gonna nail the thing down if I had to," he grumbled, giving it one more shake to make sure it wasn't going anywhere.

Hilde just giggled, and carefully placed Damon in the seat, pulling the straps around and over him. Duo eyed it nervously, not sure he trusted it completely. 

"You sure there's not more to this thing, Hil? I mean, shouldn't there be some sort of screen or cover? What if something were to fall on him, he's not very protected," Duo worried.

"Well, there is a shade. I suppose you can pull that down, but he'll be fine. He's in perfectly capable hands," Hilde replied smugly, giving Duo a warm smile.

"Fine, but you can't hold me accountable if I accidentally drop him or he suffers severe repercussions from being with me. I've already told you I don't think this is a good idea. It would be much better if you took him," Duo argued, dreading the thought of being alone with the baby again.

"I've already shown you how to change him, feed him, bathe him, and talk to him. Everything else you could possibly need to know is in that baby book I bought, which is in your bag. You'll be fine Duo, now for heaven's sake stop worrying and get going. Wufei is going to chew me out if you're late, and that I will blame you for," Hilde said, with a slight shake of her head in amusement at the crestfallen look on Duo's face.

The ride out to the shuttle bay was blissfully uneventful, Damon stayed quiet and Duo's anxiety abated slightly. He managed to get the car seat unstrapped from the truck and into the shuttle's passenger seat without too much of a fight and soon they were in the air and heading towards Earth.

As soon as they had climbed to a certain altitude, however, Damon started to fuss, causing Duo to glance over at him nervously.

"What's wrong kiddo? Hilde fed and changed you before we left, please don't tell me you're wet already," Duo begged.

Reaching over, he slipped a finger under the leg band of the diaper, but it was still dry. And Damon just knocked the bottle out of Duo's hand when that was offered. Duo just stared bewilderedly down at the baby as his cries continued to escalate. 

"I really wish Hilde were here," Duo groaned, unfastening the car seat buckles and gently lifting Damon out.

Cradling the boy gently in the crook of his arm as Hilde had previously shown him, Duo attempted to soothe his wailing. Although he stopped flailing his arms and legs, tears still poured down his reddened cheeks. 

"Damon, if you don't stop that soon, my ears are gonna explode," Duo cringed. "Wait, I bet that's what wrong, you've got an ear ache from the pressure, huh little guy?"

Slowly reclining the seat, Duo laid Damon on his chest and gently began to massage his ears and temples. Duo's own ears had begun to pop as well, and he stretched his jaw to alleviate the ache. Slowly as the pressure equalized, Damon's fussing tapered off until he merely sniffled as Duo dried his cheeks. 

"See, it goes away after awhile. No need to cry anymore," Duo assured him, as a pair of watery blue eyes looked up at him.

"You know, this trip will go by before you even know it if you go to sleep," Duo suggested, watching the eyelids blink slowly. He doubted the kid would take a nap on command, but perhaps with some music, it might help lull him into it.

The sudden beeping from his com unit several hours later awoke Duo with a start. Careful not to jerk the baby in his arms, he sat upright and clicked his monitor on.

"Mr. Maxwell you're cleared for landing at runway 3B in approximately twenty minutes," came the female voice over the com.

Realizing that he must have fallen asleep, Duo checked his heading on the navigation screen and turned off the auto-pilot.

"Alright, has my transport arrived yet?" he asked

"Yes, there is a car waiting for you. They will be ready when you land," she replied.

"Thanks, I'll see you soon then," Duo said, clicking his com off and putting Damon back into his seat.

"Gotta get you strapped in for landing Damon. Hilde would skin me alive if I let you fly this tub," he laughed, earning a sleepy yawn from the babe.

Once on the ground, Duo grabbed both their bags and gently carried the baby seat off the plane to the awaiting car. The driver stepped out to help Duo with his luggage and promptly froze in his tracks.

"Duo, when did you...?" the man started, looking down at the carrier in his hand.

"Hey Trowa, Wufei didn't tell me you were my ride. And this little guy is a long story, which I'll tell you all about on the way," Duo snickered, amused at the wide-eyed look of shock on the tall brunette's face. Nothing ever seemed to faze Trowa, so this was definitely something he would have to share with Quatre.

"Wufei is out on assignment with Heero, they'll be back tonight, but Quatre figured it would be easier if I came and picked you up and brought you back to the house myself," Trowa explained.

"Back to the house? I was just planning on staying at the hotel near the Preventers HQ like I usually do when I'm in town," Duo protested.

"Do you honestly think Quatre would let you? Especially once he finds out about that?" Trowa said, eyeing the squirming bundle.

Duo just sighed, he knew Quatre too well for that. "You're right, he'll probably be all sad that I didn't tell him about Damon as soon as I found him."

"Damon?" Trowa asked, hoping Duo would start filling in the blanks already.

"Yeah, about 2 am this morning someone started pounding on my front door. By the time I got to it, there was no one in sight except this little guy on my doorstep. Anyhow, Hilde suggested I try and find his parents or family and I called Wufei to see if he could use his connections. So here we are," Duo finished, as he buckled the carrier into the back seat and slid into the front.

"Someone left him on your doorstep in the middle of the night? Any idea who?" Trowa wondered, the whole idea seeming quite ludicrous.

"There was a note, saying he was my son, but since I've never been with anyone except Hilde that's pretty much impossible. I don't really know of any other women who were pregnant or who could possibly have done this, so unless Wufei can get some prints from the note I'm in the dark about the whole thing," Duo added with a helpless shrug.

At a complete loss for words, Trowa continued to drive in silence. As far as resources went the Preventers were probably the best choice, their nets were cast far and wide. They had a very large database of missing persons throughout the Earth and colonies which no other agency had. 

"And if you can't find the family?" Trowa asked, watching as Duo's eyed darkened for a moment.

"Then Hilde and I will take care of him. I've already promised her I wouldn't dump him in some orphanage or let social services get him," Duo whispered, still not sure he could actually go through with it.

Seeing the doubt on Duo's face, Trowa opted to let the subject be for the moment. He knew from what Quatre had told him that the relationship between Duo and Hilde had been strained recently as Duo had confessed he didn't love her. One-sided relationships were hard, especially between best friends and to throw a child into the mess, well, Trowa sincerely hoped the parents were found.

Quatre was waiting outside on the front porch once they pulled into the circular driveway. Grabbing the two duffel bags, Trowa headed for the door, leaving Duo to handle the car seat. Finally getting the hang of the straps after the third time fighting with them, Duo managed to extract the seat without jostling Damon too much. The baby simply looked up at him and started sucking on his fingers. 

Striding up to the porch, Duo was stopped by the wide cerulean eyes looking at him as though he'd just grown a second head. Chuckling quietly, Duo plastered a smile on his face.

"Hey Quat, meet your new Godson, Damon," Duo crowed, lifting the car seat up to eye level.

Quatre just blinked, his eyes swiveling from Duo's face to the baby's and back. "My Godson?"

"Well I figured if anything happens to me or Hil, you'd probably be the best choice to take care of my offspring," Duo grinned, as all the color drained from his friend's face.

"Hilde? You mean you and Hilde...but I thought...you said you didn't...my Godson?" Quatre stammered incoherently, as Duo tried not to burst into laughter.

"That is if you want to be his Godfather. I suppose I can always ask someone else..." Duo said, slowly retracting the baby seat.

"No! I mean, yes, of course, I want to be his Godfather, I'd be honored, really Duo," Quatre blurted, clamoring down the steps in order to stop the seat's movements.

"You want to hold him? He's pretty quiet most of the time, he slept the whole way here once his ears stopped popping," Duo mentioned, lifting Damon out of the seat and holding him out to the blond.

"Really? Oh, Duo, he's gorgeous," Quatre replied, gently cradling the baby in his arms.

"He takes a little getting used to, but he starts to grow on you after awhile," Duo laughed, as Quatre cooed and babbled at the bundle much like Hilde had done.

"I've only ever held a few of my sister's babies before, I can't imagine what it must be like to actually have one of your own," Quatre sighed wistfully.

"Well, to be totally honest with you Quatre he's not really mine. At least I don't think he is." Seeing the confused look from his friend, Duo continued. "Hilde didn't give birth to him, we're not together. Damon was left on my doorstep this morning by someone with a note saying he was mine. I have no idea who left him or who wrote the note though. Wufei is going to use his connections to try and locate his family, which is why I'm down here."

Quatre seemed to pull the child closer to him as Duo said that. "So you'll just give him up then?"

"Quatre, I'm an ex Gundam pilot. I don't know beans about taking care of a child and I'm pretty sure someone out there is looking for him," Duo answered.

"Guess I'll have to wait for the Godfather thing then. It was kind of a nice thought though," Quatre murmured. 

"You would be my first choice Quat, I can't think of another person alive who I'd trust more," Duo assured, earning a sad but grateful smile in return.


	5. Unexpected Company

Chapter 5:

"So how are things with you and Hilde these days anyway, I feel like I haven't been able to really talk to you in a while now," Quatre asked, watching as Duo unpacked his bags.

"They're good actually, it took Hilde awhile to get over the fact that I really couldn't offer her what she wanted, but I think in a way she's finally accepted it. She got kind of nostalgic thinking about her and I raising Damon, but it would feel like such a lie doing that to him. How do you explain to a kid when they ask why mommy doesn't live with you or why you're not together?" Duo replied a slight scowl on his face.

"I can see your point Duo. But I can also see Hilde's, Damon would deserve two parents in his life and I'm sure she would be a great mom," Quatre shrugged, feeling completely unhelpful that he couldn't give his friend a solid answer.

"Well, for now, I'm not even going to worry about it. I'll cross that bridge when and if I even get to it, as they say," the long-haired man smiled confidently.

"Yes, I'm sure everything will...um, Duo, I think Damon's leaking," Quatre squeaked, holding the baby at arm's length away from his wet t-shirt.

Duo chuckled and quickly took the child from the blond who was looking thoroughly squeamish. "Don't worry Quat, it washes out. Poor Hilde now has a bright green stain on her favorite white tank top from this little monster."

Quatre just gave a wobbly smile before dashing from the room to decontaminate himself. Leaving Duo to handle the diaper duty.

"You'd better not do that to me kiddo," Duo warned, as Damon gurgled and kicked his legs while Duo un-taped the sides of the soaked diaper. "Yeah, you've got the 'cute and innocent' look down pat, don't you?"

 

The rest of the day was a quiet affair, both Trowa and Quatre bonding with Damon and getting used to having a baby in the house. Much to his surprise Duo realized how much he had missed being with his friends. Quatre and Trowa had such an easy going relationship, everything they did was so natural, it reminded him of what he had back on L2 with Hilde, except that he could never take the final step and make the relationship permanent. He loved Hilde very much, but it didn’t feel like enough and he wasn’t sure why. What was it that Trowa and Quatre had that he and Hilde didn’t? 

 

Quatre looked up from where Damon was cradled in Trowa’s arms, gurgling and waving a tiny fist. The look on Duo’s face was so intense and confused that Quatre almost asked him what was wrong when on the heels of that look he was swamped with a pang of longing and regret. Duo was always so open to him, over the years they’d bared their souls to each other numerous times and Quatre knew how badly his friend wanted and needed to feel like he belonged and held onto the hope that one day he’d be able to find someone who loved him. He’d pinned that hope on Hilde and Quatre had watched while Duo became frustrated and confused after what he thought was love turned out to be only a strong friendship. Quatre’s idea of dating was quickly dismissed once he realized that trying to open himself up to a complete stranger, tell them his deepest secrets and fears was completely impossible. How would they ever really understand what he’d been through? How would they understand the driving need for him to help and protect those he held dear? Not to mention his love of space, flying and running extremely dangerous salvage missions for Howard at a moment’s notice? At all that Quatre had agreed that finding someone for Duo may be a near-impossible task. Quatre couldn’t imagine being with anyone other than Trowa, his strong, quiet partner who could understand an entire conversation worth of words with no more than a look. And it seemed the moment Quatre would start to feel melancholy over something he couldn’t fix, Trowa would be there, arms extended for the comfort Quatre could get nowhere else. Trowa was truly the other half of Quatre’s heart and soul, though it was not something he could easily explain to Duo nor how to go about finding it for himself. 

Sometime after dinner, both Wufei and Heero staggered into the house, much to Duo’s surprise, when Trowa had said Quatre insisted he come to the house, he had assumed it would just be the three of them. Giving Quatre a look that clearly asked: “what the hell?” Duo sat frozen on the couch with Damon in his arms. 

“Maxwell I see you made it in alright. Lady Une wants a briefing tomorrow morning, followed by the child’s physical exam by Po and then we’ll get started on the paperwork,” Wufei stated, as Duo and Heero proceeded to glare holes in each other.

“Good to see you too Chang. I didn’t know you and Yuy lived here too, Trowa picked me up from the airport at Quatre’s insistence or I would have just gone to a hotel,” Duo replied, casting another look at the blonde.

Quatre just blinked innocently as if he didn’t even think a forewarning might have been a good idea.

“It’s fine, there are six bedrooms in this house and plenty of room for everyone. It will be convenient enough since our work hours vary so drastically and you can carpool with one of us in the morning or whenever you’re required to go to the office,” Wufei replied.

Heero was still staring at Duo as if he was some strange alien being that he couldn’t quite figure out and hadn’t moved a muscle from where he stood in the entryway until Wufei barked his name to get him to move out of the way. With a huff, Heero headed for the stairs and left the rest of the group in varying degrees of puzzlement.

“I don’t suppose anyone clued Yuy into my visit?” Duo asked, already knowing the answer by Heero’s expression.

The remaining three men exchanged looks but finally, all shook their heads no, much to Duo’s consternation.

“Geez, and I was hoping to avoid the death glares as much as possible. You know if I get flack over this from him, I’m blaming both you and Quatre,” Duo growled, glaring at Wufei.

“Flack? What are you talking about Duo, why would Heero be upset at your visit?” Quatre asked, feeling a confusing mix of seething anger and rage boiling off his friend.

“Let’s just say we didn’t part on the best of terms last time we saw each other. I haven’t felt much like getting told to effectively “fuck off” again so I’ve done my best to steer clear of Yuy, and had I known he was staying with you Quatre I would have stayed at the damn hotel like I’d planned,” Duo replied, his eyes flashing dangerously. 

As the other three were effectively silenced by his retort, Duo took the opportunity to scoop Damon up and escape to his bedroom without being further interrogated.

Duo leaving the room seemed to snap Quatre out of his surprised daze and he looked from Trowa to Wufei, “do either one of you know what caused that?”

Trowa just shook his head slowly, the last he remembered from when he saw Duo and Heero together, they were fairly chummy. Duo was constantly throwing an arm around Heero, joking with the other pilot and although Heero wasn’t the most friendly of their group he handled Duo’s friendship as best as could, considering their situation at the time. 

Wufei as well was at a loss for an explanation to Duo’s animosity towards Heero and vice versa. Heero had looked like he’d seen a ghost when they’d walked through the door and Duo had been ready to spit nails. “As far as I’m aware they haven’t had much contact since the end of the wars, but I hadn’t thought that they’d parted on such bad terms. If they can’t handle being in the same room as each other without starting a fight then perhaps Duo should move to a hotel.”

“Well, if whatever transpired between those two happened at the end of the wars then it’s been stewing for all this time and clearly needs to be resolved and quickly. I know Duo’s rather infamous for holding grudges against those he believes have wronged him, but if we can figure out what happened and get Heero to talk to him and apologize then Duo will forgive him,” Quatre replied.

Wufei huffed and crossed his arms, “I hardly have time for an intervention Winner, my schedule is chaotic as it is and now with this baby on top of it all I’ll be lucky to get a moment’s rest. If you and Barton want to play therapist, be my guest but leave me out of it please.”

“All right Wufei, but you know Heero better than any of us, so if you get a chance can you at least see if you can find out what started this all? Ultimately it will benefit us all if they’re not going at each other’s throats, especially since there is a baby involved now,” Quatre pleaded.

Wufei nodded his agreement, though he couldn’t think of an easy way of bringing this mess with Duo up to Heero. If Heero didn’t want to talk about it, it would be like trying to get blood from a stone, he fully expected Quatre to have better results with Duo.

The next morning dawned on five extremely groggy young men and a peacefully dozing baby. “Every three hours,” Duo groaned, dropping his head into his arms that were folded onto the kitchen table top.

“I may install soundproofing for all the bedrooms,” Quatre yawned.

“At the very least I’ll pick up some earplugs on the way home tonight for us all,” Trowa agreed.

“If we don’t manage to figure out his parentage soon, I may be going to a hotel,” Wufei groused.

“We’re going to need more coffee,” Heero added, placing steaming cups in front of everyone.


	6. No News

Chapter 6:

The ride into Preventer HQ was quiet, Wufei drove while Duo sat in the back seat with one arm thrown protectively over Damon’s car seat, both sound asleep by the time the car pulled out of the drive way.

Sally was eagerly waiting in her office as Duo walked in with Damon and Wufei in tow. “Duo! So good to see you again, it’s been much too long.”

Duo smiled at the warm greeting and set the carrier on Sally’s exam table. “Definitely didn’t expect this to be the reason for our next meeting.”

“But what a reason! When Une called me into her office this morning to tell me what was going on I thought it was some kind of joke. I must admit however, infants aren’t my specialty, I still do a mean field dressing however and I’ve yet to meet anyone who can stitch a wound faster or neater than me,” Sally replied, smiling down at the tiny bundle in the carrier.

“He’ll need blood drawn for a DNA test, finger prints done and a fully physical, surely you can handle that much?” Wufei drawled.

Duo swallowed thickly at the look Sally shot Wufei in response. Why he would dare antagonize the women who was in charge of his monthly physicals and held all the sharp needles was anyone’s guess, but Duo thought it was the stupidest thing he’d ever seen Wufei do. “Fei you clearly have a death wish man.”

“Indeed Duo, I believe your next physical requires a prostate exam Agent Chang,” Sally quipped, narrowing her eyes in challenge at the Chinese Preventer.

“We’ll see if I ever have time to fit it into my busy schedule,” Wufei smirked.

“Perhaps you’d like to be red flagged from field duty for the next 6 months then?” Sally grinned.

“I think I’m over due for some vacation time, I think I need to speak to Lady Une about that,” Wufei replied, nodding to Duo and calmly leaving the room.

Sally’s grin turned into a chuckle, it had been quite awhile that the two of them had been able to banter freely like that with each other. Neither the time nor the place while at HQ and it had been months since they’d seen each other socially outside of the work place either.

Duo just scratched his head, he hadn’t realized that the two had such a friendly relationship with each other. Clearly it was a side of Wufei he’d before missed, but it raised all sorts of questions to what else he’d missed as well.

“Are you two dating?” Duo asked.

“I suppose it might seem that way to some, but honestly we’re just really good friends. When we were working together in China many of the elders saw us together and questioned it as well, but neither of us is attracted to the other; even though we’ve been told we’d make adorable babies,” Sally replied, carefully extracting Damon from his carrier.

“But this little guy is an absolute heart breaker! Oh Duo, I can definitely see the resemblances, though there’s something else familiar about him I just can’t put my finger on,” Sally added.

“You think it’s the mother? The only reason I can think of why she tracked me down was that somehow during the wars we knew her, maybe she was someone we rescued at some point. Or maybe it was someone who worked here, maybe that’s why you find it familiar?” Duo guessed.

“I’m really not sure, it certainly would make finding the mother easier if she was an employee. But we’ll have a definite answer as soon as I get the DNA test done. I can get the fingerprints done now and you can take them straight to Wufei to run through the system. The blood is going to take a little longer, but I’ll handle that personally in the lab. Unfortunately I have this sinking feeling it’s more likely to be someone you may have run into on L2 and they recognized you from the wars, which is why they dropped Damon off with you. The registry is so far behind on that system, I doubt even a ¼ of the people are on it. I understand the reasoning why you and Lady Une won’t add a Preventers branch there but something needs to be done, nothing has improved since the wars!” Sally said.

Duo just nodded, it wasn’t that he didn’t agree about the conditions of L2, but throwing more police presence up there wasn’t actually going to help. It needed rehabilitation, more jobs, more money and a wrecking ball in some areas. Most of the people who were homeless were so because they had migrated from areas on Earth and L5 when they got destroyed. It was now over crowded and falling to ruin with nobody to help fix it. 

“Duo if you could please hold him, I’ll scan his fingers and enter all his stats into his file. Since we know his first name but not his last, do you have any suggestions or should we leave it as “Doe” for now?” Sally asked.

Duo stood behind the exam table, holding Damon up so Sally could hold his tiny hands and fingers, “you can put Maxwell, Sally. If nothing comes up after all of this he’ll stay with me. I may not be great father material but I probably won’t get another chance at it so I’m going to do my best.”

“Its really all any child could ask for Duo. They don’t expect perfection; they love without any conditions or expectations. You are one of the most genuine and heartfelt people I know Duo, and just because you were once a soldier doesn’t mean you can’t be a father. Instead of trying to protect all of L2 and the Earth, now you’ve just got him,” Sally replied.

“Hilde nearly bought out the baby section in every store she could trying to make sure we had everything, but I still feel like I’m steering a Gundam through a mind field, blind folded. Even the supposed experts who write the baby books can’t agree on anything, one says to do this another says something completely different, what are you supposed to believe?” Duo confessed, looking helplessly at Sally.

“Duo, have you ever heard the expression, ‘It takes a village to raise a child?’ Well it’s very apt, while Wufei and I were in China there were many orphaned children, and the villages all banded together to take care of them. It didn’t matter if they already had kids or were well past having them or even men with no child care experience. If there was a need, these people stepped forward time and again and took these children into their homes, fed them, clothed them and cared for them. Everyone else provided for them, brought extra food, bedding, toys, anything they had and could offer. Not one single child was left out in the cold. Children take a lot of care, but all children develop at about the same rate, so during certain stages they all need the same things. Once I figure out a better estimate on his age I can give you some more specifics. For now though I’d say just keep doing what you’ve been doing since he seems healthy and happy. Luckily they don’t need much when they’re so young, just make sure to keep him in a dry diaper, check for a rash, and if he gets fussy make sure to feed him some formula in a bottle. He doesn’t have any teeth yet so he’s not ready for solid foods, he could easily choke if you try those too early. And make sure to keep him warm, they won’t always tell you when they get too hot or cold, but if it seems too cold to you then figure he must be freezing,” Sally explained.

Duo just nodded mutely, if it took an entire village to raise a child, what the heck was he going to do? He had a feeling his speed dial was going to have to include Sally’s direct line immediately. 

Luckily the exam went quickly and smoothly without a single fuss on Damon’s part, a fact that was not lost on Sally. “I wish all my patients could be as easy and well behaved as you little man. I think you’ve got the best tempered baby I’ve ever met Duo.”

“Well say that again when he’s hungry, this kid does not like to be kept waiting for his food,” Duo snickered.

“Hm, and you really want more proof than that, that he’s really yours?” Sally quipped.

Duo rolled his eyes, geez did that woman have a sharp sense of humor.

As Sally headed for the lab, Duo headed back to Wufei’s office hoping that the finger prints would give them some leads.

“Hey Chang, Sally said the prints should be loaded now and sent Damon’s file to your email,” Duo said, as he entered Wufei’s office.

“Good I’ll start running them through the hospital data bases and I’ve already looked at all the name registries but without a last name, precise date of birth and place of birth I’m coming up with too many possibilities,” Wufei replied.

“The closest Sally can get to an age is roughly 4 months old, she said since he’s holding his head up on his own but not sitting up yet he’s somewhere older than 3 months but younger than 6 months. The rest of his stats are in his file though, weight, height, coloring, etc,” Duo added, giving an apologetic shrug at the less than pleased look Wufei was giving him at the vague information.

“I’m not even going to bother looking again then, that time line is far too incomplete and I’d still wind up with hundreds of names. I didn’t find anyone born in the last year with the first name Damon, so either he wasn’t born in a hospital on L2, they didn’t record it or he was born somewhere else,” Wufei said.

“If he wasn’t born on L2 but brought there, wouldn’t he have needed to fly? What about shuttle tickets? Video surveillance?” Duo suggested.

“It would tell us who brought the baby to L2 but we don’t know when to look for, he could have been brought over that same day he was dropped off on your door step or he could have been here for a month. That’s hundreds of hours of video you’re talking about watching, and whomever dropped him off could be anywhere by now and very well could have used an alias when the tickets were booked,” Wufei replied, causing the hopeful look on Duo’s face to plummet. 

Wufei sighed, he knew this was weighing heavily on Duo, the man wanted so badly to do right by this baby and have it happily reunited with it parents but Wufei had the sinking feeling in his gut that this was going to be like a dog chashing it’s tail around in circles.

“I doubt his fingerprints are going to help much either then, but will you run them anyway?” Duo asked.

“Of course. I’ll run them against all the matching names I’ve already gotten and perhaps we’ll get lucky, at the very least it’s a smaller pool to try fishing through then all the prints across all the data bases.” Wufei replied, quickly setting back to work at his computer.

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly if increasingly boring. The fingerprints turned up nothing, which left both Duo and Wufei waiting for the DNA results from Sally. She said they’d take several hours and when that time frame came and went with no news Wufei was told that the DNA machine was giving her inconclusive results so she was going to run them again and do some more testing. 

“The next batch of results won’t be in until tomorrow, I suggest we head home for the evening. I’m sure Quatre is eager to see you and Damon and spend some time with you both,” Wufei said, shutting his computer down and straightening up his desk.

This whole trip was certainly not going the way Duo had hoped, and he was going to have a hard time resigning himself to the fact that Damon’s parents were completely gone. How in the world was he going to explain that to him as the boy got older? And why Duo of all people?


End file.
